Men with breast cancer following Angelina Jolie’s solution

Men do get breast cancer and many are choosing the solution of Angelina Jolie and having double mastectomies.

Doctors and researchers say that may reduce the fear factor for the patient but not necessarily extend his lifespan, according to a story by The Washington Post.

JAMA Oncology reported that researchers determined aggressive interventions for women to treat the earliest stage of breast cancers have no effect on whether a woman is alive a decade later. The research tracked more than 100,000 women.

About 1 percent of breast cancer cases in the United States are actually in men, though. A new study published this week in JAMA Surgery – the organization has lots of journals -reports that mastectomies for men nearly doubled from 2004 to 2011.

The trend towards more aggressive preventive measures in men mirrors what’s happening in their female counterparts with breast cancer.

Actress Angelina Jolie very publicly said she was getting a double mastectomy after testing positive for a mutated gene that put her at great risk for the disease. Researchers say men and women with breast cancer are now following suit, calling it the “Angelina Effect.”

Experts have suggested that the trend may be due to the growing availability of genetic testing as well as what cancer specialists call the “Angelina effect.” The actress was very public about her decision to have a double mastectomy two years ago after being told she had a gene mutation that put her at risk of breast cancer.

Researchers, practitioners and activists, though, would like to pump the breaks. They say all the public attention to “pink ribbon” breast cancer campaigns may have inadvertently influenced people to undergo potentially risky and costly treatments that may not help them.

“We have created a culture of breast cancer awareness, and we’ve created a counter-cultural response of fear. When you do a mastectomy, you reduce the fear greatly,” Steven Narod, a senior scientist at the Women’s College Research Institute in Toronto told The Washington Post.

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